Regain 80% of Your Time (This is Exactly How) || Ustadh Abdulrahman Hassan

Summary

Ustadh Abdulrahman Hassan’s central message is that time is a person’s most valuable and irrecoverable resource. Money or work may be replaced, he argues, but time that has passed cannot be brought back. A person should therefore keep changing for the better: gaining useful knowledge, increasing in good deeds, and drawing closer to Allah rather than remaining spiritually and personally stagnant.

Main Ideas

• Use time before it disappears. The Prophet’s teaching about two blessings many people waste—health and free time—is presented as a warning. These blessings often coincide in youth, but both tend to diminish with age. People commonly recognize their value only after losing them.
• Give special attention to youth. The speaker notes that people will be questioned about how they spent their lives and about their youth in particular. Youth combines time with health and energy, making it an especially valuable opportunity.
• Measure progress regularly. He urges listeners to ask themselves whether they have gained useful knowledge and increased their righteous deeds. He also prompts them to reflect on what they have accomplished over recent years, including religious, personal, and practical goals.
• Remember death to motivate action. The speaker recounts how Uthman ibn Affan was moved to tears upon seeing white hairs in his beard, and cites Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud’s regret over a day that passed without good deeds. He also describes pious predecessors imagining themselves in their graves to remind themselves to prepare for death, then returning to their work with renewed resolve.
• Learn from the Salaf and scholars. The great scholars began life without knowledge, like everyone else, but studied, acted on what they learned, and guarded their time. Reading their biographies can inspire people and offer lessons about how individuals and societies develop.
• Recognize that time is tied to faith and success. The speaker draws attention to Surah al-‘Asr, which connects loss with the need for faith, good works, calling one another to truth, and patience.

Practical Guidance

1. Take care of the body.

   • Eat what is halal and avoid what is haram.
   • The speaker links unlawful consumption with the acceptance of supplication.

2. Take care of the mind.

   • Avoid filling it with media and entertainment that damage thought or distract from better pursuits.
   • Spend time with wise people, read, learn, and reflect on history.
   • The speaker says that understanding history can help people recognize recurring patterns and think more clearly about what may come.

3. Nurture faith and the heart.

   • Work consistently on one’s iman and seek what benefits both this life and the next.
   • Treat self-purification as ongoing: the heart needs attention, and good intentions and actions require continued effort.

4. Seek Allah’s help.

   • The speaker emphasizes that people cannot reliably overcome their weaknesses through willpower alone.
   • He encourages asking Allah for help, understanding, and firmness while continuing to make an effort.

5. Choose company that values time.

   • A person’s habits are influenced by their friends. Spending time with people who waste time can make it harder to value one’s own.
   • Seek companions who are serious about their faith and use of time.

6. Use social media deliberately.

   • Social media can be used to benefit oneself and others, but it can also consume time and distract someone from family and responsibilities.
   • If a person cannot control their use, the speaker suggests leaving or reducing it rather than allowing it to dominate life.

Q&A: Disciplining the Nafs

In response to a question about resisting sinful impulses, the speaker compares the nafs to a child: if it is continually given what it wants, it will keep demanding more. It must be trained by learning to say no. He refers to three states of the nafs described in the Qur’an: the self that urges evil, the self-reproaching self, and the tranquil self. Reaching a tranquil state requires persistent purification, attention to the heart, and reliance on Allah.

The speaker also advises reading the biographies of scholars and other exemplary figures. He recommends a book about the importance of time, but the title is unclear in the subtitles.

Q&A: Forgetfulness and Responsibility

The final exchange discusses people whose awareness or capacity is absent, mentioning sleep, loss of sanity, and childhood. The speaker says that responsibility is lifted in certain cases, such as sleep or genuine loss of mental capacity, while distinguishing this from impairment caused by voluntary substance use. The subtitles are unclear in parts, so they do not support a more detailed account of the legal discussion.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Ustadh Abdulrahman Hassan — the lecturer and respondent during the Q&A.
• Unidentified audience members — ask questions about disciplining the nafs and using social media while pursuing knowledge.
• Religious sources and figures cited or referred to by the speaker:
  • The Qur’an, including Surah al-‘Asr and passages about the nafs, accountability, and regret at death.
  • Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad, including teachings about health and free time, accountability, seeking what benefits a person, and asking Allah for help.
  • Uthman ibn Affan and Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud, whose reflections on aging and wasted days are cited.
  • Scholars including Ibn al-Jawzi, Ibn Rajab, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn ‘Aqil al-Hanbali, Ibn Khaldun, and Ibn Taymiyyah.
  • The early generations of Muslims (the Salaf) and major hadith and legal scholars, including al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi‘i, and Ahmad.